Hard-to-tackle geographical challenges continue to hinder the development of some of the world’s very poorest countries. The 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are a group of nations that the United Nations defines as having a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of less than US$990 a year (that’s not much more than £1.50 a day – which is the UN definition of absolute poverty).

The reasons for the continued poverty of these states are numerous, complex, interlinked and in some cases controversial. They include barriers to trade with richer countries, unaccountable autocratic rulers, corruption, the burden of debt, natural disasters and conflict. In this article, we investigate the latter two of these major development hurdles.

Developed as part of the UK government funded Global Learning Programme

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